William Whiting, an Anglican poet and
music instructor who died in 1878, wrote only one religious song that entered
the standard hymnals, yet it is one of the most popular of all, "Eternal
Father, Strong to Save," better known as “The Navy Hymn”.

Between 1935 and 1941 one U.S. Army
officer each year attended the German Kriegsakadamie.

During the early 1920s then Cdr. Chester
W. Nimitz had a pet bulldog named Polly who was so fat, she sometimes passed
out when taken for a walk.

In 1941 the largest “employer” in the
world was the Soviet slave labor camp system.

The first hospital ship was very likely
the Terapeia, especially fitted
out to transport Athenian wounded in 401 B.C., during the latter stages
of the Peloponnesian War.

During World War II, American sailors
nicknamed the catapult aircraft carried on battleships and cruisers “slingshot
warbirds.”

While in pursuit of the defeated Angevins
after the Battle of Conquereui, in 992, Duke Conan I of Brittany paused to
strip off his armor, and was promptly slain by some enemy stragglers.

In 1773 Thomas Sawyer, the Chief Ratter of the
Royal Navy, claimed to have set a world’s record, killing 2,475 of the critters
in HMS Duke using a unique arsenic-and-flour bait.